Dehydrating stopper



June 7, 1966 F. LANcEssEUR DEHYDRATING STOPPER Filed May 8, 1964 United States Patent O 3,254,784 DEHYDRATING STOPPER Francois Lancesseur, 1 Rue du Dome, Paris, France Filed May 8, 1964, Ser. No. 366,003 Claims priority, application France, May 10, 1963, 934,393, Patent 1,364,148 2 Claims. (Cl. 21S-37) For many years plastic stoppers incorporating a pad of dehydrating material have been widely used with ya view to maintain the moisture-free condition of the air contained in bottles or other containers closed by these stoppers; as a rule, this type of stopper comprises a first skirt adapted to lit into the bottle neck or the body of the container while closing the latter in a duid-tight manner, and another, inner skirt concentric with the former and receiving therein the pad of dehydrating material, this pad being retained therein by an air-pervious partition of suitable material such as cardboard secured by crimping inwards the lower edge of said inner skirt.

The two skirts aforesaid may be reduced to a single skirt serving both functions set forth hereinabove, and the dehydrating pad may be retained by means other than a crimping operation.

Up to now considerable difficulties have been experlenced in attempting to impress inscriptions on the stoppers, this operation being effected as a rule only by etching the bottom of the mold used for manufacturing the Stoppers; however, this etching operation is attended by ,various inconveniences; firstly, it is scarcely visible since no color discrepancy permits of setting the inscription in sharper contrast; besides, this method makes it necessary to prepare a number of molds corresponding to the different types of markings contemplated.

It is the essential object of this invention to provide a dehydrating stopper of the type broadly set forth herein- 4 above which permits of avoiding these inconveniences. With this object in view, the dehydrating stopper of this invention is characterized in that inside the inner skirt, between the stopper bottom and the pad of dehydrating product disposed in said skirt there is interposed a washer, for example of paper, colored or not, having printed thereon the mark or trade name of the product contained in the bottle or other container which is to be closed by means of said stopper; if desired, this washer may be impregnated with a substance adapted to impart a predetermined color thereto as long as the dehydrating product preserves its dehydrating properties, this color changing automatically when these properties are lost; thus, the user can tell immediately from the stopper color whether the stopper is still capable of performing its duty. and more particularly whether the product contained in the bottle or like container closed by this stopper may be used or if it is preferable to discard it.

Of course, the marks or reference inscriptions carried by this washer may be printed in any desired color and, if desired, their opacity may be sufficient to conceal the dehydrating product and provide any desired ornamental effect.

According to a complementary feature of this invention and with a view to facilitate the insertionof the stopper in the bottle neck or like aperture to be sealed thereby, the lower free edge of the outer cylindrical skirt of said stopper is slightly curved inwards, this curvature being obtained for example during the crimping operation effected for retaining in position the pad of dehydrating product; under these conditions, no additional step is required therefor; moreover, thisprocedure avoids the use of the hitherto customary relatively thick skirts growing ICC thinner towards the aforesaid free edge to provide a slightly tapered outer face for said skirt; thus, a lighter stopper may be obtained which has the same advantageous easy-fit feature as conventional tapered-shirt Stoppers.

Thus, the crimping operation may ,be dispensed with and the outer skirt may be formed initially with the desired curvature for retaining the pad of dehydrating product which is introduced in due time into the inner space bounded by said skirt, the air-pervious partition, if necessary, being subsequently positioned by momentarily outiiaring the resilient curved edge of the skirt.

The attached drawing illustrates diagrammatically by Way of example a typical form of embodiment of a dehydrating stopper incorporating the features of this invention. In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the stopper of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a section taken upon the line II-II of FIGURE l, and

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of the washer carrying the mark or trade name of the product contained in the bottle or like container provided with the stopper.

The stopper illustrated in the drawing comprises in the manner already known per se a base or bottom 1 formed integrally with an outer skirt 2 having a thicker upper portion 3 formed preferably with corrugations or ribs 4 on its outer face to facilitate the gripping of the stopper; the lower free edge 5 of this skirt 2 is slightly curved inwards to facilitate its insertion into the bottle neck or the aperture of the container to be closed; a pad 7 of dehydrating substance is retained inside another, inner skirt 6 by a washer 8 secured in turn by crimping the lower free edge 9 of this other skirt 6.

A relatively thin washer 10 of paper, cardboard or plastic material, having printed or otherwise made apparent thereon a mark, a trade name or the like, such as the Words Air-Sec illustrated by way of example in this embodiment, is disposed in the bottom of the space formed by the inner skirt 6 before inserting the dehydrating pad 7; this washer 10 is subsequently retained in position by the dehydrating pad itself, Without resorting to any cementing or other step attended by the dual inconvenience of requiring additional work and involving the use of a product likely, notably after a certain time period, to attack said washer 10 and cause the inscription carried thereby to fade out or even disappear.

On the other hand, it is clear that the form of embodiment of the present invention which is shown and described herein by way of example should not be construed as limiting the invention, as many modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in theappended claims. Thus, notably, although this invention has been described with specific reference to a two-skirted stopper, it is applicable as well to Stoppers having a single skirt performing the functions of the two skirts in the abovedescribed example, as already explained hereinabove.

What I claim is:

1. A closure for a bottle or similarly apertured container, which comprises a disc-like base portion formed of a plastic material that is at least translucent and has anl inner face, a cylindrically formed skirt portion extending perpendicularly from said base portion and adapted to be received in the mouth of the bottle, said base portion .and skirt defining a cavity, a body of dehydrating material received in said cavity and in communication with the interior of the bottle when the closure is applied to the bottle, a retaining disc secured at its periphery to 3 i i said skirt and retaining said dehydrating material in said References Cited by the Examiner cavity and a second disc interposed between said de- UNITED STATES PATENTS hydrating material and base portion and held by said dehydrating material against the inner face of said base por- 213 171882 '4/1943 Boesel 21S-37 tion, said second disc bearing indicia Visible through said 5 2,514,902 7/1950 Sabath 21S-37 base portion.

2. A closure according to claim 1, further comprising THERON E' CONDON Pnmm'y Exammer a second skirt surrounding and spaced from said rst FRANKLIN T. GARRETT, JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, mentioned skirt and adapted to engage the mouth of the Examiners. bottle in sealing relation. 10 I. B. MARBERT, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A CLOSURE FOR A BOTTLE OR SIMILARLY APERTURED CONTAINER, WHICH COMPRISES A DISC-LIKE BASE PORTION FORMED OF A PLASTIC MATERIAL THAT IS AT LEAST TRANSLUCENT AND HAS AN INNER FACE, A CYLINDRICALLY FORMED SKIRT PORTION EXTENDING PERPENDICULARLY FROM SAID BASE PORTION AND ADAPTED TO BE RECEIVED IN THE MOUTH OF THE BOTTLE, SAID BASE PORTION AND SKIRT DEFINING A CAVITY, A BODY OF DEHYDRATING MATERIAL RECEIVED IN SAID CAVITY AND IN COMMUNICATION WITH THE INTERIOR OF THE BOTTLE WHEN THE CLOSURE IS APPLIED TO THE BOTTLE, A RETAINER DISC SECURED AT ITS PERIPHERY TO SAID SKIRT AND RETAINING SAID DEHYDRATING MATERIAL IN SAID CAVITY AND A SECOND DISC INTERPOSED BETWEEN SAID DEHYDRATING MATERIAL AND BASE PORTION AND HELD BY SAID DEHYDRATING MATERIAL AGAINST THE INNER FACE OF SAID BASE PORTION, SAID SECOND DISC BEARING INDICIA VISIBLE THROUGH SAID BASE PORTION. 